The Details Matter

Australian politics and international affairs have recently become something resembling a failing soap opera.

So, gentle reader, I'll post something less disagreeable.

My project to convert a Japanese domestic market Toyota Hiace into a camper is just about complete, so I'll outline the journey, and where I've ended up. 

The vehicle is a 2014 Hiace Commuter which was used as a dry cleaner's vehicle in Japan. Clothes aren't heavy, so I assumed that it hadn't had a hard life. It was showing about 140000 kms when I bought it from a Brisbane importer who furnished all the necessary documentation, including the auction report from its sale prior to import.

As I bought it with dry cleaner's clothes racks.

A mechanical inspection confirmed that the vehicle was in good condition, and had a number of useful features including an aftermarket audio installation with Apple Carplay. More about that later.

It also had a slightly upgraded trim and features list which included push button start, climate control AC which has an extra unit cooling the rear of the cabin. It is also 180mm wider than the local market vehicles. Again, that's a mixed blessing. More about that later.

Fitout side unit installed across the cabin. Note modem and fire alarm.

Tyres have plenty of tread, albeit a little older than ideal, and the van features chrome trim not seen on the local market. There was also a three person bench seat installed which I removed. I reckon the business was family owned, and that seat was used to drop family members/employees off each day before the vehicle went on daily delivery runs.

First step was to install a plywood floor, which was fairly straightforward. Then I used pre-glued vinyl planking to dress it. This also was cheap, as we had sufficient planking left over when we refloored our home a few years ago.

Initially, to construct a bed, I bought a door from Bunnings, attached legs to it, and attached it to the floor using metal brackets. I located an unused single bed mattress on Facebook and installed it on the bed. This provided accommodation for about a year, until I spent $1990 on a slide out bed from Boxed Fitouts. I'd also used a second hand baby change table (found at Vinnies) as a frame for storage until I replaced it with another Side box from Boxed Fitout ($990). 

Can be converted to a double.

To provide off-grid power, I bought a Bluetti AC70P, ($745) and had a inverter/charger installed so that it automatically charged as the vehicle is driven. For connection to mains power I spent $500 on an external plug.

Despite appearances, it's securely anchored.

What I've finished up with is a van that remains fairly light, is easy to drive, and comfortable both for road trips and extended stays off grid. The Bluetti is good for about three days to keep the Kings 75 lit fridge running, but requires only about 50 kms of driving to be fully charged. I've also bought a small folding Rovin solar kit ($250) for extended stays. I haven't had an opportunity to personally trial it off grid yet, although my daughter has at a four day outdoor festival. It works OK to maintain charge for light use (fridge and charging devices).

Senior's handle & camping sink. The sink is not a total success - unwieldy.

As mentioned above, the van came with a CarKit_blink Japanese audio kit, which is fine, except it's designed for use in metropolitan Japan, and is next to useless in the Australian bush, where streaming through Apple Carplay works providing you're within coverage.

The van's extra width is handy in providing living space, but can be a challenge when parking in narrow bays at shopping centres. It is not too wide to be unwieldy, but a great deal of care is needed if you want to avoid inconveniencing fellow parkers. Having said that, it takes up a lot less space than a Dodge Ram, or a Chevrolet Silverado, and people park them in supermarket car parks. The van is 2280mm tall, so that precludes using most underground parks which average between 2100mm and 2200mm.

Slide out storage. Porta-Potti for contingencies. Not used so far.

In summary, the vehicle cost $24000, and I've added about $5000 worth of kit to make it habitable across twelve months of ownership. 

At that outlay, it's a totally competent camper, and the chassis is sound and looks like being reliable and cheap to maintain. It's not exactly fun to drive, especially in comparison with my previously owned Mazda MX5s. It's a bit like driving a block of flats. 

It is, however, quiet and comfortable when cruising, and the elevated seating position means you have a great view of traffic and surroundings.

Fitout Finished

Sunrise at Miles

I've finished the fitout of the HiAce, and have done a couple of trips in it.

The conclusions are these.

It's comfortable, both to drive, and to sleep in.

It cruises well on the highway, the only exception being its performance in high winds. It feels more like a yacht than a van under those conditions, and the options are to stop and wait until the wind drops, or keep the speed below 80km/h.

The system I bought to allow for off grid camping works well It consists of a Bluetti power unit connected by an inverter to the alternator. 

This lasts about three days when I'm powering the refrigerator, but you need only to drive it for half an hour to charge the unit up to 100%, so it's feasible to do road trips, stay off grid overnight, and live in it without having to use the 240V setup.

Bribie Island

I use a portable gas stove with pressure cans and it does the job well. Washing up is a bit of a pain, but the collapsible bucket I found at BCF does the trick. I ordered a camping sink online which has proved less useful, although it's OK for quick ablutions. There's also a portable toilet, but it's for emergency use only. Storage in plastic boxes which are housed under the bed and slid out on demand also are pretty cheap and convenient. 

I use occy straps to keep everything located, and haven't had any problems with this method so far but always wear eye protection when working with them.

Camping sink - really a vanity only.

The purchased items are the Bluetti AC70P power unit and a King's 45lit,  refrigerator. Everything else is material repurposed or found in my disorganised garage.

It's surprisingly economical of on a trip, using between 11 and 12 litres per 100km, which is OK for a fully loaded camper. 

Columboola veterans' retreat.

Items that need improving include the Japanese head unit (it's buggy and the radio pretty useless) and the interior appearance. At the moment it looks a bit like a jumble sale.

Still, my daughter has given it her seal of approval after attending a music festival in it.

Another Household Appliance

 

My bride took this photo on her way to sewing.

I'm in the habit of posting reviews of anything different I drive, and as we've been using a hired Toyota Corolla whilst the Kia's been at the panel beaters, I've decided to continue the practice.

The car in question is the base (hire car version) of the ubiquitous Corolla, available now only as a hybrid. This hybrid-only policy of Toyota as it relates to their sedans and SUVs is an interesting trend. They call such vehicles "PHEV", but I'm not entirely sure what the "P" in the acronym stands for. "HEV" is clearly "Hybrid Electric Vehicle". Usually the "P" denotes the capacity to plug the vehicle in for recharging, but this is not the case with tis particular Corolla.

Boot's a bit small because batteries.

It's a very basic, but entirely user-friendly vehicle, which seems to embody the time worn characteristics of Toyotas as very well put together and conservatively engineered.

Having said that, I had previously hired a Corolla a few years ago on a northern trip, and although it was essentially the same car, there have been some improvements.

Firstly, the driver assisting technologies seem to have been positively fine tuned. No longer does the lane keeping feature aggressively grab at the steering if it thinks you are wandering out of your lane. In this car, it was more of a nudge than a grab.

The wiggly jiggly bits. There's two motors. Count them.

I was not able to test the adaptive cruise control (ACC) as I didn't take it out on the open road, so aren't too sure how this works on the later model. As I recall the ACC worked well in the trips we took around Cairns in the other Corolla.

The hybrid drive train is seamless and very efficient. I put 8 lit into it prior to return, after travelling 56 kms around the suburbs. Unless my maths is dodgy, that's about 4lit/100km - not shabby.

A bit sombre.

According to AI driven searches, the Australian market Corollas are manufactured in Aichi, Japan, so the quality engineering and assembly should be maintained. This particular example seemed as tight as a drum.

So the household appliance is a very sound and rational means of transport, pleasant, if not fun to drive. You do pay a premium, even for the base version, compared (say) with a Mazda three (about $3000), but you'd probably recoup most of it in retained value.

Strangely perhaps, the controls around the proximity key and the HVAC are almost identical with those in my van.

Camper Conversion - A Tentative Start

Flooring 

First step in converting the Hiace to a camper is installation of the flooring.

The vehicle came with carpet, but that's not a good setup if you're camping, particularly in wet conditions.

We had a couple of boxes of wood effect planking left over when our house was renovated. I bought some 7mm ply, and cut it into shape using my jigsaw with the removed carpet as a template. There wasn't quite enough of the planking to cover the whole floor, so I went to Bunnings in an attempt to match what we had.

The original brand (Pegulan) was no longer stocked, but I was able to find some adhesive backed material which was pretty close, and used that.  

It wasn't a perfect match, but the contrasting area will be covered by furnishings. The finished product looks OK, and should be durable, easily cleaned and waterproof. I discovered when I drove it around the block after I had finished that it actually drives quieter. The lagging under the carpet (which I left in place) probably helps.

Next step is the stripping of the interior panels and the ceiling. 

The plan is to get the electrical installations completed when the lining is removed. That's a better sequence than lining the walls and ceiling and having to remove the lining to put the wiring in. Obviously, all the electrical work needs to be done by a qualified tradesperson, and has to be certified. Apparently, this requirement refers only to 240 volt installations, and the intention is to have both 240 and 12V available, so I might as well get both done at once.

My understanding of electrical work is less than marginal.

Ill keep you posted.

 

 

 

Vanlife?

Appearance is good

I've made a habit of posting on this blog only when there's been a change of vehicles.

Having said that, I've changed vehicles with monotonous regularity, so this blog is not, as yet, extinct.

Buying the second Kia was a useful experience, but owning one was enough. The original intention of converting it to a camper paled in the light of reality, on the basis of the fact that it was simply too small.

At the dealers'

My daughter tried it, and found it lacking spacewise, even though I had slept soundly in it when I did the same. Maybe months of sleeping on the ground all those years ago in Vietnam had taught me to apply a different standard to sleeping comfort. 

Anyhow, after lots of research and many test drives, I have acquired a 2014 Hiace Commuter. The vehicle is a Japanese domestic market vehicle, imported by one of the many businesses set up to bring them south and get them certified.

It was originally a dry cleaners delivery van, which should mean that it hasn't had a hard life. Clothes are not heavy.

Head unit is useful

The racks installed as storage for hanging suits, skirts and jackets will provide a useful mounts for curtains, and because it has a high roof (2280mm) it should be liveable. 

It has covered 153000 kms, which for a Hiace is not much at all. It drives well, albeit a bit like a block of flats, but a block of flats without rattles or creaks. The paint is good, and as a "GL" has goodies like full instrumentation, bluetooth and Apple Carplay. 

There are some mysteries, such as a clock set on Tokyo time which stubbornly refuses to be adjusted, and Japanese script that comes and goes on the instrument fascia. I have downloaded the Toyota drivers' manual, which resides on a memory stick. It is also downloaded on my phone. No tools or handbook came with the vehicle, which is par for the course for JDM cars.

It has a motor (2.7lit)

Not too many Australian drivers can make sense of a handbook written in Japanese.

I'll keep you posted on its (slow) fit out as a camper.

A Duo of Rondos

Thule racks fitted.

The rondo form as a musical genre emerged in the baroque period and became increasingly popular during the classical period.

I'm not sure if there is any connection between music and motoring, but the Kia Rondo, as a vehicle, was never really given a chance to become popular in the Australian market, as Kia stopped selling them here early in 2019.

This has never made sense to me. They sell well in Europe and Canada, although under the name "Carens", which derives from the word "car" and "renaissance". That nomenclature makes about as much sense as calling a car after a musical genre, but there you go....

The reason to stop selling them in Australia, according to Kia, was slow market take up, claiming to have sold only 150 buyers in 2018, and 226 in 2017. Our household has two of them.

Come to think of it, I can't recall any promotion of the model, either online or in the print media. They didn't sell, because buyers weren't aware of them. They're not SUVs, so by definition, were not trendy. This state of affairs defies logic, as the Rondo had more interior space and a smaller road footprint than the Sportage, and cost about $5000 less.

Perhaps posing as a four wheel drive vehicle was the rationale for the extra dollars. Bigger wheels and more expensive tyres was really all you scored for your extra.

So now, our household owns two of them.

There are a number of good reasons for this. First, they came with a seven year warranty, which is always a good sign. If a manufacturer has enough confidence in the product to provide this, you can be pretty sure the thing has been well engineered and well put together.

Kia has made massive strides in quality in a very short time. Early Kias were sound, but boring. Current models have cutting edge styling, and are very well equipped. The styling of our two are a result of the head-hunting that Kia employed in 2006 when it stole Peter Schreyer as chief design officer from BMW.

Apart from the appearance of the vehicle, which disguises its people mover attributes, the body styling ensures good aerodynamics, which becomes apparent on long open road journeys, when subseven litres per one hundred kilometres are par for the course.

The other one.

The volumetric capacity of the interior, with seats folded, is 1650 litres, and it can seat seven. I have carried large items of furniture (dressers) without too much trouble. The Rondo was second only to a ute in practicality when we moved house a few years ago.

They handle well, and the high seating position makes placing them on the road very straightforward, and entry and egress is kind to my aging (and damaged) spine.

The fitting of a state of the art stereo compatible with Apple Carplay has made the white one much more user friendly, although I'm not keen on touch screens. The magic wheel, as fitted to my CX-3 was a better proposition.

Before

After

There is sufficient room in the Rondo to create a sleeping space, and that is the next project. I have designs on converting the white one into a minimalist camping wagon.

The plan is to avoid any permanent installations, and I have a way of doing that.

The Thule pack racks are the first step.Watch this space.  

Near Miss

I'm posting this dashcam grab, gentle reader, in the hope that it might be instructive.

At about 1:10 in you'll notice a dark grey Toyota Corolla approaching on a downhill sweeping curve, and getting into a lurid oversteer situation.

I was a bit lucky, as the slide hadn't developed sufficiently to get into my lane until she (was a female driver) had passed me. She did end up in my lane, behind me, facing the way she had come.

Fortunately there was no other traffic at that instant, the road was wide, and there was nothing to hit.

I stopped, and walked towards the car to see if she was OK, but she took off. Embarrassed, perhaps? Anyway, the instructive bit refers to damp roads, downhill bends, and driving to the conditions.

My car was the Rondo I have just purchased.

 

Project Rondo

For some time now, I've been looking for a Kia Rondo with low kilometers.

Last week I found one; a 2017 model, with 34000 on the clock, and the best part of one year's warranty left. 

The low kilometers is a product of Covid, as the car was used by a local health service for outpatient transport. It sat in the depot for the duration, and averaged only about 5000 kms annually.

The only downside was that it was located in Nowra, so a 2000 km round trip was necessary. 

After much swapping of photographs and negotiation over the phone, the deal was done. The CX-3 was my trade, and in the end, no actual transfer of funds (except for the deposit) was necessary. The transaction cost me only travel and accommodation expenses. 

The reason for swapping a perfectly good Mazda CX-3 for a base specification Kia Rondo, is very simple. You can't sleep in a CX-3, but you can in a Kia Rondo.

The project will involve a very minimalistic conversion. 

Here are the details - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3cfH39yPIg

Wish me luck....

A Superior Household Appliance?

Appearance is pleasing

On a recent tour of FNQ* I had the opportunity to spend a week driving a hired Toyota Corolla. 

It was the barebones hire car version, but nevertheless was equipped with just about every conceivable feature, some more useful than others. Apple Carplay was extremely useful, especially as I have become used to what you can do with it based on experience with the CX-3.

Toyota interior finish is solid

We are in the habit of watching the ABC's Insiders on Sunday, and we were able to do this on the iView App playing on the audio. Sound is all you need on a panel show, and I was surprised how well the signal held despite negotiating at the time the convoluted and relatively remote Palmerston highway.

One feature I did not appreciate was the lane keep assist. It seemed to kick in over 60 kph as we headed North from Townsville, and nearly drove me bonkers as we proceeded along the Bruce Highway. It is supposed to prevent the car wandering out of its lane, but seemed to cantankerously want to take over the steering at the most inconvenient times. My guess is that it is engineered for your well-designed dual carriageway, and there aren't too many of these in FNQ. 

Plenty of space here

I pulled over, grabbed the driver's handbook and figured out how to turn it off. this transformed the car, and made it almost enjoyable to drive. Even the CVT (which I did not appreciate at first) managed to be in the right gear most of the time, and actually provided quite respectable engine braking in the mountains.

Full size alloy spare is a bonus

The seats were comfortable, the road noise less intrusive than in the Toyo Kogyo competition, and it was very economical. We saw 6 lit/100km cruising. It seemed to handle a lot better than Corollas I have previously driven, and is a little bit further along a continuum with household appliances at one end, and fun driving machines at the other.

I don't know that I could ever own one, but it was a very pleasant little thing, and served our purposes well across a wide variety of roads and conditions.

Eight out of ten I reckon....

*Far North Queensland - generally North of Cardwell. 

 

Trusting the Tech

 

Pic courtesy Mazda.com

In my most recent post about the CX-3, I made reference to the I-Stop feature.

This is just one example of the digital technology that came with this car, and is typical of many vehicles produced during the last five years.

For a boomer who was first licensed to drive in 1964, old driving habits die hard.

So when the I-Stop feature stops the engine, I feel very uneasy. But once you get used to it, it works very well. Whether it actually saves any fuel of consequence is another matter, but it is indeed a reliable piece of tech that functions as intended.

Then there's the "Auto Hold" gismo.

P for handbrake

This is a button the is located below the hand brake actuator (more about that later) on the centre console. When you're waiting at the lights on a slope in neutral, pressing this prevents the car from rolling back. It is a very useful feature, although it comes with a brief delay before it locks on, which is a little disconcerting.

But there's more....

The handbrake (mentioned above) is not one of those sturdy mechanical things typical of Mazdas of old, which made a welcome ratcheting sound when you pulled them on. Instead there is another (not exactly a button) device which you activate by lifting it slightly, and release by pushing it down. It does work very well, and even makes a slight clunking noise when you set it to "on". I find the mechanical noise reassuring.

Mirror folding switch

One piece of tech that caused me some alarm is the tyre pressure warning system. This is makes a buzzing noise when one or more tyres has lost pressure. Not long after I bought the car, I adjusted the tyre pressures. I always do this, as experience has taught me that some dealers have a very eccentric idea of what constitutes correct tyre pressures.

To my alarm, when I drove away after setting the pressures to slightly above Mazda's recommendation, the buzzer sounded and the warning light stubbornly stayed on. A check with the War and Peace sized instruction manual was not useful, as it simply acknowledged the presence of the feature, so I went to Google.

This showed that after tyre pressures were adjusted, the thing had to be reset. This was a very simple exercise (holding the button down for two seconds until the warning light flashed twice) and it has been happy since. Replacing the tyres elicited the same behaviour, but I was now wise to this particular quirk.

The blind spot warning system and the reversing warning buzzer that kicks in if any vehicle is within cooee when you're backing out of a parking spot is a very useful thing, although it tends to over compensate more than somewhat. But that's OK. 

Lastly, I accidentally discovered that the rear vision mirrors fold. Because they didn't automatically do that when the car is locked, I had no idea the feature was present until I had a quiet read of the driver's manual. It simply isn't automatic (or maybe it is and I haven't set it properly).

Tyre warning reset button

This model of the CX-3 doesn't have a lane-keeping feature or radar cruise control. The latter is probably useful, but experience I've had test driving vehicles with the former confirm my belief that they're an abomination. 

If you're too dozy to keep the car in the lane, you shouldn't be driving.

Mazda the Fifth

 

These things (Mazdas) are becoming an addiction.

This CX-3 is the fifth example of the marque that I've owned. It replaces the Mazda 3 that I hocked to pay for renovations in our new home. 

I've never been good at sharing cars. My bride would tell you that if you asked her.

The list of machines in our family emanating from the Togyo Kogyo plant at Hiroshima in the land of the rising sun include three MX-5s (all NBs, and one of them an SE) and my daughters 323, and my recently sold Mazda 3.  

To be completely truthful (and regular readers will know that I always am) this latest member of the Zoom Zoom family wasn't actually made in Japan. Mazda is now outsourcing manufacturing to an Auto Alliance factory in Thailand (Rayong province) and that is where the CX-3 was built.

Following my practice of avoiding new cars, as they depreciate as soon as you drive out of the showroom, I sourced this local 2019 example with 30000 kms on the clock locally. It's the cliche; with one local lady owner. It's a manual, and I was lucky to find it. Manuals are like hens teeth these days, as fewer and fewer millennials (and whatever the generation after them is called) can drive them.

It really does remind me of my MX-5s, but it has the actual advantage of being accessible. My 75 year-old back is these days incompatible with sports cars. The higher hip point of the SUV body style is a real boon. There is very little adult room in the back seat, but generally I sit in the front to drive it, so am not bothered by that.

The drive train has some strong similarities to the MX-5, and both road feel and steering feedback are similar. The higher driving position gets you away from reading the sidewalls of B-double tyres whilst waiting beside them at the lights.

There is lots of whiz-bang tech which I'm getting my head around, including a feature called i-stop which cuts the engine when you're waiting at the lights. I can disable it, but it sparks up again every time you start the car. 

Is this my last Mazda? Most likely - so I'll do my best to enjoy it.

Another Mazda

 

The MX5 is gone, but not forgotten.

The replacement is a pleasant machine. It drives well, is extremely comfortable, and some of its characteristics (gearshift and road manners) remind me of the MX5. 

It's a whole lot easier for a septuagenarian to access, and I don't have to make agonising decisions about preserving its value by not driving it in the rain, and keeping the kilometres low

I thought I knew a bit about Mazdas, but this car has provided a few surprises. Despite the smaller Mazdas having a bad reputation for road noise, I haven't found it a problem. Perhaps the tyres (almost new Michelins) help.

Whilst the seats feel hard and basic, I can drive long distances without developing the dreaded numb bum syndrome.  

Seats folded, it can shift a surprising amount of kit, as I discovered when helping my daughter shift her gear after her return from the UK. It also will accomodate a road bike, as my son discovered.

Existing audio. Works well, but way too many buttons.

These things come equipped with a good amount of tech, (GPS, bluetooth, voice activated calls) but I am replacing the stock audio setup with a touch screen with all the bells and whistles. The new audio won't do anything the old one wouldn't do by pairing it with a phone, but it's less fiddly and Apple Carplay is a good thing.

And with this car, I no longer am a worshipper on the "keep it original" altar. It's quite liberating.

It's mechanically very sound, although one problem with buying sight unseen is that unbeknownst to me prior to purchase, the paint had a few nasty surprises. Previous owner must have owned a cat which had fun climbing all over it and leaving minute scratches in the clearcoat.

I've removed some of them, but others are still noticeable under some light conditions. 

Next post I'll review the new audio kit. 

Goodbye and Hello

 

It's gone.

I sold it to a bloke in Melbourne for $7000 more than I paid for it three years ago, and it arrived via truck yesterday and was collected by the new owner this morning.

He phoned me and told me he was wrapt in the car. I'm glad. He bought it sight unseen, based on my description, and I would have felt bad if he had been disappointed.

I sold it because it had ceased to be an object of enjoyment (although it remained a lovely little thing to drive) and had become an artifact to be preserved. This meant that every time I wanted to drive it, I was considering how many kilometres I would put on it, and how that would affect its value. 

The fact that my degenerating spine (a consequence of humping a military load in and out of choppers and for ten weeks at a time fifty-one years go) was making it increasingly painful to access its cockpit was also a factor.

Whilst all low-kilo NBs are holding their value well, this one, because of its Jasper Conran interior, is a collector's item. It probably should be on display in a museum, and a car like that is no good to me. Cars are for driving, not looking at.

I researched its replacement carefully and looked online for the most sensible and practical low mileage Japanese sedan with a manual six-speed gearbox. I found a 2013 Mazda 3 with 40000kms and (as the cliche goes, one lady owner). I bought it from a dealer, taking advantage of my TPI GST free concession. 

The plan was to deliver the MX5 to its new owner in Melbourne and to collect the Mazda 3 from the dealer and bring it back to Queensland.

Then the lockdowns happened.

In the end, the buyer had the MX5 trucked south, and I had the 3 sent north. Shortly before my car arrived in Pinkenba (the Brisbane depot of the logistics company) SE Queensland was locked down, and I couldn't pick it up without being quarantined at home for two weeks, so I had to shell out for the Brisbane-Toowoomba leg.

So the savings I'd made buying GST free were cancelled out by the trucking costs. The car should arrive home today or tomorrow.

The blog will remain, despite the lack of an MX5 to write about. It will continue to cover matters motoring.

Watch this space.

The Chinese Alternative

 

Chinese vehicles are beginning to arrive in numbers on the Australian market. Frankly, I would never buy one for two good reasons.

The first is, I don't buy new cars. The fact that they lose a very large proportion of their value when you drive them out of the showroom explains that.

In the case of vehicles produced by Chinese companies, recent behaviour in their treatment of our exports is reason enough. Having said that, the research and development undertaken by SAIC, the Chinese company that owns the brand, takes place in Longbridge in the UK. The cars are actually manufactured in China or Thailand.

I had occasion to hire a car last week, and my promised Toyota Yaris somehow morphed into an MG3, so I'll write a brief review.

The MG logo is everywhere.

The car was fun to drive, as steering, handling, and road feel were all of a pretty high standard compared with its rivals. Build quality was so-so, being let down by fit and finish and lots of hard plastic.

The bells and whistles were all there, including a graphically excellent eight-inch touch screen, which handled the installed Apple Carplay very well. Bluetooth was simple and clear. Seating was basic but comfortable, although my trips were all short, so I can't say how it would fare on a highway run.

It was also reasonably refined considering the price point, and road and engine noise were generally subdued. The power steering pump made a yowling noise which was only present on the first start-up of the day. Once warmed up, it disappeared.

Engine is 1.5 litres.

The engine-transmission combination, whilst old-tech, works well. The auto is four-speed only, but preferable, in my opinion to the CVTs that are becoming commonplace in this market segment. It also used very little fuel. I didn't measure it but paid $8 to top the tank up after three or four trips from one side of town to the other.

The seven-year warranty and entry price of $17490 are pretty convincing, and these are the factors that are persuading buyers. That's a lot of car for not much money.

It seems to me that some Chinese manufacturers are following the pattern established by the Koreans. Their first offerings were pretty horrible, but they are learning quickly.